Liquid color dispensing and delivery methods

ABSTRACT

A moveable scale for weighing containers of liquid color, having a weighing tray that may be moved from a weighing position to a non-weighing position. When in the non-weighing position, the weighing tray is low to the ground, allowing for easy loading and unloading. When in the weighing position, force is sensed by one or more load cells located between the weighing tray and a scale assembly, which allows accurate measurement of the weight container and its contents.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a 35 USC 121 division of co-pending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/627,698, filed 20 Feb. 2015 in the nameof Stephen B. Maguire, entitled “Cart and Method for Dispensing LiquidColor,” published 20 Aug. 2015 as United States patent publication2015/0233756 A1, now allowed, the priority of which is claimed under 35USC 120,

The '698 application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/458,681 filed 13 Aug. 2014 in the name ofStephen B. Maguire, granted 14 Nov. 2017 as U.S. Pat. No. 9,815,036 B2and entitled “Liquid Color Cart and Method for Liquid Color Dispensing”,the priority of which is hereby claimed under 35 USC 120.

This patent application also claims the priority under 35 USC 120 ofprovisional U.S. patent application Ser. No. 61/942,135 filed 20 Feb.2014 in the name of Stephen B. Maguire and entitled “Liquid Color Cartand Method for Liquid Color Dispensing.”

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The disclosures of the '698, '681 and '135 applications are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable

Background of the Invention Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to scales, and more specificallyelectronic scales for weighing drums, cylinders and other suchcontainers, and to methods and apparatus for handling, weighing anddispensing liquid color.

Description of the Prior Art

Generally, scales used in industry for weighing containers are designedto be placed in a fixed location and the containers to be weighed mustbe brought to the scale using a cart. This is a drawback in manyindustrial settings where stock may be spread out over a large area ofthe facility and the containers are heavy and cumbersome to move.

Another disadvantage of existing scales, including portable scales, isthat the weighing surface of a cart used to transport the scale issupported by a substantial substructure, causing the weighing surface tobe elevated some inches above the ground, forcing the user to lift theheavy container off the floor in order to place the container onto theweigh scale deck.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one of its aspects, this invention provides a cart that can bothweigh and transport large containers of material, preferably liquidcolor. The cart preferably includes a weighing tray, a support assemblysubstantially supporting the weighing tray, and at least one weightsensor, preferably in the form of a load cell, between the weighing trayand the support assembly, so that weight measured by each weight sensorcan used to determine the weight of a product located on the weighingtray. The support assembly includes a plurality of ground-contactingmembers, preferably wheels.

The cart preferably includes a device to convert a signal from the loadcell into a measured weight.

The support assembly of the cart preferably includes at least one drivemechanism coupled to the weighing tray. The drive mechanism elevates theweighing tray. The drive mechanism preferably includes at least onepneumatic cylinder.

In another aspect, this invention provides a method of providing liquidcolor to be used in a plastic resin processing machine to fabricatefinished or semi-finished plastic parts of a prescribed color. Themethod preferably includes the steps of: (a) providing a color recipespecifying weights of component colors to be blended to create arequired color for fabricated parts to be of the prescribed color; (b)continuously sensing weight of a container; (c) sequentially adding eachcomponent color to the container until sensed increase in containerweight equals the weight of the component color required by the recipe;(d) repeating step “c” until all of the component colors required by therecipe have been added; and (e) blending the component colors in thecontainer.

The recited step of continuously sensing weight of the container ispreferably performed by a load cell. The component colors that are addedto the container are preferably single pigment dispersions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of the back and the right side of a cartwith a drum-like container, preferably of liquid color, in place on thecart, manifesting aspects of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a view in elevation of the back of the cart shown in FIG. 1with the drum/container in place on the cart.

FIG. 3 is a right side view in elevation of the cart shown in FIGS. 1and 2 with the drum/container in place on the cart.

FIG. 4 is a top view of the cart shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 with thedrum/container in place on the cart.

FIG. 5 is a broken partial schematic cross-sectional view of theweighing tray and support assembly of a cart manifesting aspects of theinvention, with the weighting tray contacting the support assembly suchthat the weighting tray cannot be used to determine weight of anycontainer that might be placed in the cart.

FIG. 6 is a broken partial schematic cross-sectional view of theweighing tray and support assembly similar to FIG. 5 but with acontainer/drum to be weighed shown in dotted lines and with the weighingtray in an elevated position for weighing.

FIG. 7 is a broken enlarged cross-sectional view of a portion of thecart shown in FIGS. 1 and 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS AND BEST MODE KNOWN FORPRACTICE OF THE INVENTION

Liquid color used in fabricating plastic products by molding orextrusion, when manufactured, is the result of blending a number ofdifferent base pigments together to obtain the exact color and shade ofcolor a customer wants. The accurate addition of each component iscritical. Generally it is necessary to measure and dispense eachcomponent to an accuracy of 1 part per 1000, which is 1/10 of 1.0% ofthe total blend weight.

The components are generally mixed in a large container, such as a drumor barrel. The empty drum to be filled with liquid color may be a 30gallon drum that can hold from 300 to 400 pounds, depending on bulkdensity of the blend. Once filled, the container is then transported toa desired location through the use of a cart or other transport device.This generally requires the now 300 to 400 pound drum to be manuallylifted onto the cart, which can prove onerous.

This invention provides a cart that is able to gravimetrically measurethe liquid color components being added to or removed from the drumwhile the drum is on the cart. This allows one to skip the step ofhaving to load a heavy drum on to the cart after it has been filled.Further, the present invention allows one to determine the amount ofliquid color in the drum without having to transport the drum to ascale, remove the drum from the cart, and place the drum on the scale.This is helpful in determining and correcting any loss of the liquidcolor in the drum.

The mechanical design of a cart 10 is illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 7.Referring preferably to FIGS. 5 and 6, cart 10 includes a generallyrectangular base 16, a pair of support assemblies 18, and a weighingtray 14. The support assemblies 18 are mounted on and extend upwardlyfrom respective sides of base 16. Support assemblies 18 each include ahorizontal shelf 26, two pneumatic cylinders 20, two pistons 22, eachresiding in one of pneumatic cylinders 20, and couplings 24 that attacheach piston 22 to the base 16, as shown best in FIGS. 5 and 6.

Base 16 includes lateral frame members 38 on each side, and a rear framemember 40 (see FIG. 1), with the front side of base 16 open to allow foreasy loading and unloading of a drum 100 or other container on toweighing tray 14. Two rear wheel support members 42 extend downward fromthe underside of the rear frame member 40 (see FIG. 2). Front wheels 44are attached to front ends of the lateral frame members 38 and rearwheels 46 are attached to the rear wheel support members 42 (see FIGS. 2and 3).

A column 48 is connected at a distal end to rear frame member 40 bybolting or other detachable means and extends upwards. Handles 50 areattached to the proximal end of column 48. A controller unit 52 is alsoaffixed to the proximal end of column 48 by means of a mounting bracket56. Mounting bracket 56 includes an adjustable tray 58 allowing displaymonitor 54 of controller unit 52 to be angled so as to be easily visibleby the user of cart 10 (see FIGS. 1, 2 and 3).

Weighing tray 14 is generally U-shaped, and includes a weighing traybase 28, two weighing tray arms 30, and projections 32 that extend fromthe top of weighing tray arms 30 generally parallel to shelf 26 ofsupport assembly 18. Weight sensors, depicted in the illustratedembodiment as load cells 34, are located on both sides of weighing tray14 (see FIGS. 5 and 6) and as such are positioned between respectiveprojections 32 and respective shelves 26. Load cells 34 are electricallycoupled to controller unit 52 preferably by a plurality of insulatedwires running along and behind lateral frame members 38, under rearframe member 40, and inside column 48, up to controller unit 52.

With particular reference to FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, support assemblies 18 ofcart 10 move weighing tray 14 from a non-weighing position to a weighingposition. FIG. 5 shows weighing tray 14 in a non-weighing position, inwhich weighing tray 14 rests on base 16. Weighing tray 14 preferablyremains in this non-weighing position while moving cart 10, or whileplacing drum 100 on cart 10, or while removing drum 100 from cart 10.This ensures that load cells 34 are not supporting any weight, andtherefore are safe from being damaged during these activities.Additionally, load cells 34 are preferably positioned to allow lowersurface of cart weighing tray 14 to be very close to the floor. Thisallows heavy drums 100 to be moved onto weighing tray 14 while it is inthe non-weighing position by simply tilting the drum and moving cart 10to slide weighing tray 14 under drum 100.

FIG. 6 shows the weighing tray 14 in the weighing position. Totransition to this position, compressed air or other fluid underpressure is injected through inlets 36 located at the top of pneumaticcylinders 20, thereby pushing the cylinders 20 upwards in relation tothe stationary pistons 22. (Note that the rods of pistons 22 are fixedto base 16 by couplings 24 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6). Because pneumaticcylinders 20 are mechanically coupled to shelf 26, as the top ofcylinder 20 moves upward, shelf 26 moves in the same direction. As shelf26 moves, it lifts load cell 34 upwardly and consequently lifts weighingtray 14 and weighing tray base 28 off of base 16.

With weighing tray 14 (as well as drum 100 and its contents) no longersupported by the base 16, downward force is applied to load cells 34,allowing load cells 34 to accurately measure the weight of the itemlocated on weighing tray 14. Load cells 34 generate weight signalinformation that is sent to and processed by controller unit 52 tocalculate the weight of drum 100 and/or its contents. The measuredweight is displayed on the display monitor 54 and/or electronicallyrecorded.

Accuracy in measuring the weight of the material in the drum isimportant. For example, for a 300 pound batch of the final liquid colorproduct, it is necessary to measure and dispense into the drum eachcomponent to an accuracy of within three tenths (0.3) of a pound, or 135grams. Load cells 34 on cart 10 can detect accurately to within 5 grams.(This is a tighter tolerance then is presently generally available inthe industry. More common is 1/5000 of full scale reading, or 36 gramsfor a 400 pound batch of final product). To obtain such accuracy, theinvention preferably uses two 90 kg load cells, for a 180 kg or 400pound capacity.

Such accuracy is necessary in determining, as the drum is filled,exactly how much liquid color is going in. This is referred to as “Gainin Weight” or “GIW”. Similarly, it is important to accurately detectexactly how much liquid color is being removed as the liquid color ispumped out of drum 100. This is referred to as “Loss in Weight” or“LIW”.

Respecting GIW, as noted above liquid color when manufactured is theresult of blending a number of different base pigments together toobtain the exact color and shade of color a customer wants. When usingthe presently described invention, this manufacturing process proceedsby placing an empty drum on cart 10, and filling the drum with liquidfrom source drums, each of which contains a single pigment dispersion.Each source drum is preferably fitted with a pump, and controller unit52 preferably includes software written to control each pump in such away as to assure exact amounts are metered from a source drum containinga liquid single pigment dispersion into the blended drum sitting on cart10. (Examples of such pumps can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,416,096;7,980,834; 8,800,821; and 9,188,118; the disclosures of all of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties). During thisprocess, weighing tray 14 remains in the weighing position. As eachliquid single pigment dispersion component is added to the drum, loadcells 34 provide continuous reading of the exact weight that has beenadded. Once the specified weight of the first component is added, thesingle pigment dispersion component from the next source drum may beadded. This process continues until the all of the desired componentshave been added in the preferred amounts. When all of the componentshave been added to drum 100, it is sealed and tumbled to blend all thesingle pigment dispersion components into one perfect, fully blendedcolor, ready for use to color molded or extruded plastic parts.

Regarding LIW, cart 10 is also used to monitor “usage” of finishedliquid color product as the liquid color is consumed by the user'sprocess. Cart 10 allows the user, or seller of the liquid color, tometer exact amounts of liquid color into the process machine for everycycle the machine runs. For example, when molding a 500 gram part thatrequires 1% liquid, or 5 grams of liquid color per part, the processmust accurately meter 5 grams of liquid color for every process machinecycle that produces one of the 500 gram parts. Cart 10 accomplishes thisusing a very accurate pump, which is designed to repeatedly meter thesame amount every cycle. Controller unit 52 of cart 10 proceeds toadjust that amount as needed by monitoring the readings of load cells 34that are part of cart 10 and determining how much weight of liquid colorcart 10 is “losing”, on average, with each cycle. While cart 10 cannotreliably detect what is used in one cycle or over a few cycles, overtime cart 10 can very accurately determine an average. Based on thataverage, cart 10 can make small adjustments to the pump to target theexact 5 grams per cycle required for successful manufacture of the 500gram parts.

Although schematic implementations of present invention and at leastsome of its advantages are described in detail hereinabove, it should beunderstood that various changes, substitutions and alterations may bemade to the apparatus and methods disclosed herein without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appendedclaims. Moreover, the scope of this patent application is not intendedto be limited to the particular implementations of apparatus and methodsdescribed in the specification, nor to any methods that may be describedor inferentially understood by those skilled in the art to be present asdescribed in this specification.

As one of skill in the art will readily appreciate from the disclosureof the invention as set forth hereinabove, apparatus, methods, and stepspresently existing or later developed, which perform substantially thesame function or achieve substantially the same result as thecorresponding embodiments described and disclosed hereinabove, may beutilized according to the description of the invention and the claimsappended hereto. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended toinclude within their scope such apparatus, methods, and processes thatprovide the same result or which are, as a matter of law, embraced bythe doctrine of the equivalents respecting the claims of thisapplication.

As respecting the claims appended hereto, the term “comprising” means“including but not limited to”, whereas the term “consisting of” means“having only and no more”, and the term “consisting essentially of”means “having only and no more except for minor additions which would beknown to one of skill in the art as possibly needed for operation of theinvention.”

1) A cart comprising: a) a weighing tray; b) a scale assemblysubstantially supporting the weighing tray, said scale assemblyincluding a plurality of ground-contacting members; c) at least oneweight sensor mounted between the weighing tray and the scale assembly,so that weight measured by each weight sensor can be used to derive theweight of a product located on the weighing tray; and d) an electroniccontroller in association with said at least one weight sensor fordisplaying the weight of a container located on said weighing tray. 2)The cart of claim 1, wherein the weight sensor is a load cell. 3) Thecart of claim 2, further comprising a device adapted to convert a signalfrom the load cell into a weight. 4) The cart of claim 1, wherein theground-contacting members are wheels. 5) The cart of claim 1, whereinthe scale assembly comprises at least one drive mechanism that iscoupled to the weighing tray, said drive mechanism configured to elevatethe weighing tray. 6) The cart of claim 5, wherein the drive mechanismcomprises pneumatic cylinders. 7) Apparatus for weighing drums of liquidcolor, comprising: a) a base; b) a piston-cylinder combination connectedto the base; c) a load cell connected to the piston-cylindercombination; d) a tray connected via the load cell to thepiston-cylinder combination; e) the tray contacting the base when thepiston of the piston-cylinder combination is in a first positionrelative to the cylinder and the tray being spaced from the base, withthe load cell receiving the weight of the tray when the piston is in asecond position relative to the cylinder. 8) Apparatus of claim 7further comprising; a) a pump for pumping liquid color out of a drumsupported by the tray; b) a controller for receiving a weight signalfrom the load cell, processing that signal to determine rate of liquidcolor being pumped from the drum, and regulating speed of the pump to adesired rate of liquid color discharge from the drum. 9) Floor-basedapparatus for weighing drums of liquid color, comprising: a) a tray; b)a mechanism for lifting the tray from contact with a floor to a positionat which the tray and any load resting thereon may be weighed; and c) aload cell connected to the lifting mechanism for sensing weight of thetray and any load thereon. 10) Apparatus of claim 9 further comprising:a) a pump for pumping liquid color out of a drum supported by the tray;and b) a controller for receiving a weight signal from the load cell,processing that signal to determine rate of liquid color being pumpedfrom the drum, and regulating speed of the pump to a desired rate ofliquid color discharge from the drum. 11) Apparatus gravimetricallydispensing liquid color from a container thereof, comprising: a) a trayfor supporting a drum of liquid color to be weighed b) a load cell forsensing weight of the tray and a liquid color drum supported thereby; c)a pump for pumping liquid color out of the drum; d) a controller forreceiving a weight signal from the load cell, processing that signal todetermine rate of liquid color being pumped from the drum, andregulating speed of the pump to a desired rate of liquid color dischargefrom the drum. 12) Apparatus of claim 11 further comprising: a) amechanism for lifting the tray from contact with a floor to a positionat which the tray and any load resting thereon may be weighed by theload cell. 13) A method of providing liquid color to a plastic resinprocessing machine fabricating plastic parts of a prescribed color,comprising: a) providing a liquid color recipe specifying weights ofsingle pigment dispersion component colors to be blended to createliquid color composition for fabricated parts to be of the prescribedcolor; b) continuously sensing weight of a container using load cellspositioned between the container and the ground; c) sequentially addingeach single pigment dispersion component color to the container untilsensed increase in container weight equals the weight of the componentcolor required by the recipe; d) repeating step “c” until all of thesingle pigment dispersion component colors required by the recipe havebeen added; e) blending the single pigment component colors into aliquid color blend in the container; and f) furnishing the liquid colorblend to the processing machine. 14) A method of providing liquid colorto a plastic resin processing machine fabricating plastic parts of aprescribed color, comprising: a) providing a liquid color recipespecifying weights of liquid color components colors to be blended tocreate liquid color composition for fabricated parts to be of theprescribed color; b) sensing weight of a container using load cellssupporting the container; c) sequentially adding each component color tothe container until sensed increase in container weight equals theweight of the component color required by the recipe; d) repeating step“c” until all of the component colors required by the recipe have beenadded; e) mixing the component colors into a liquid color blend; and f)furnishing the liquid color blend to the processing machine. 15) Themethod of claim 14 wherein sensing weight of the container is performedcontinuously. 16) The method of claim 14 wherein container weight issensed to an accuracy of within 135 grams. 17) The method of claim 14wherein container weight is sensed to an accuracy of within 5 grams. 18)A method of providing blended liquid color recipe components at aprescribed rate to a plastic resin processing machine fabricatingplastic parts of a prescribed color, comprising: a) providing acontainer to receive and transport liquid color; b) weighing thecontainer; c) adding a liquid color component to the container; d)weighing the container; e) repeating steps “c” and “d” until a desiredweight of the liquid color component has been added to the container; f)repeating steps “c”, “d” and “e” until the desired weight of liquidcolor has been added to the container; g) mixing the liquid colorcomponents in the container into a homogeneous blend; h) transferringliquid color as the homogeneous blend from the container to the processmachine; i) weighing the container; j) repeating steps “h” and “i”; k)adjusting rate of liquid color transfer from the container to theprocess machine, based on decrease in container weight during eachperformance of steps “h” and “i”, to match the prescribed rate. 19) Themethod of claim 18 wherein transferring liquid color is performed bypumping. 20) The method of claim 18 wherein the weighing is performed byload cells. 21) The method of claim 18 wherein adding liquid colorcomponents to the container is performed at a first locale andtransferring liquid color as the homogeneous blend from the container tothe process machine is performed at a second locale.